Steven Serone’s first crack at Street Machine Drag Challenge was our 2022-’23 event in his crusty, LS-swapped, nitrous-abusing EJ Holden sedan. After successfully completing that week, he was instantly hooked, and this in-progress Torana build is the result.

“As soon as I got back from that event, I was on Facebook Marketplace looking for something proper to build for it,” Steven says. “Up until this point, everything I’ve built has been to smash tyres, so this Torana is the first purpose-built drag racer we’ll have done.”

The LC shell came down from Cairns to Steven’s shop in Newcastle, where he instantly tore into it. “It was half-started as a race car, but I cut it all out and started again straight away,” he says. 

As you can see, the sheet-metal work is fairly extensive. The little LC is being built to take as much as a 315 tyre, and Steven might even throw some slicks under it for some no-prep action as well. “We might also run a 275 yet; I’m still a bit undecided on what tyre to use at Drag Challenge,” he says. 

For power, it’ll be using a 400-cube Dart Little M Bowtie, force-fed by a pair of Pulsar G42-1450 turbos. A Haltech Nexus R5 will act as the brains of the affair, and Steven reckons the combo should be good for 1500hp. 

Behind the small-block is a Reid-cased Powerglide built by TK Performance Transmissions, while the Strange nine-inch diff is housed in a McDonald Brothers rear clip. “We’ll be doing it up as an LC GTR replica. I don’t usually bother painting my cars, so this one we’ll do nice before I drive the wheels off it!” Steven laughs.

At the time of writing, Steven is knee-deep in getting an LS-swapped HJ ute ready for Summernats, but after that, it’ll be full steam ahead on the LC to get it sorted for Drag Challenge 2025.

“The goal is to run sevens at each track,” Steven says, “so hopefully we can get it done for that event and have a crack!”